Method, system and program for switching between various computer-based communication techniques

ABSTRACT

In an embodiment of a method of establishing a computer-based communication session involving a user of a computer, notification may be received from the user of a desired participant and a desired communications application for the session. A participant identifier effective to identify the desired participant to the desired communications application may then be retrieved, and the retrieved identifier may be provided to the communications application. An embodiment of a system for computer-based communications includes means for receiving notification of a desired participant in a communications session and a desired communications application for the session, means for retrieving a participant identifier appropriate to identify the desired participant to the desired communications application, and means for providing the retrieved participant identifier to the communications application. The means for receiving notification, means for retrieving a participant identifier and means for providing the identifier may include a communications aggregation program.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to the following copending U.S. PatentApplications, filed on even date herewith: “Selection andInterconnection of Computer-Based Communications Techniques” by Kumhyrand MacPhail, “Computer-Based Communication Using MultipleCommunications Channels” by Kumhyr and MacPhail, and “DeterminingAvailability of Participants or Techniques for Computer-BasedCommunication” by Kumhyr and MacPhail.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to computer-based communication, and moreparticularly to a method, system and program for switching communicationtechniques during the course of a communications session.

2. Description of the Related Art

The following descriptions and examples are not admitted to be prior artby virtue of their inclusion within this section.

The continuing proliferation of powerful, convenient computationaldevices has been accompanied by an increase in the use of networksconnecting these devices. Computational devices include computers andother, often portable, devices such as wireless telephones, personaldigital assistants (PDA's), automobile-based computers andappliance-based computers. Such computational devices are also sometimestermed “pervasive devices.” “Computer,” as used herein, may refer to anyof such computational devices. The networks connecting computationaldevices may be “wired” networks, formed using “land lines” such ascopper wire or fiber optic cable, wireless networks employing earthand/or satellite-based wireless transmission links, or combinations ofwired and wireless network portions. Networked computational devices areincreasingly configured with the ability to interact and communicatewith one another. For example, electronic mail may currently be sent tosome wireless telephones and pagers, and PDA's may be used to accesssome Internet and World Wide Web (or “web”) sites.

The many available techniques for computer-based communication exhibit arange of values for criteria such as immediacy of communication,security, and bandwidth required. Email, for example, is analogous to aletter or memo, with a low degree of immediacy, relatively low bandwidthrequirement, and potentially high security. AnIP (Internet Protocol)conference, or meeting held over the Internet using cameras, bycontrast, has high immediacy, high bandwidth requirements, andpotentially lower security (since encryption measures may detract fromthe ability to provide real-time communication). Other computer-basedcommunication techniques (also referred to herein as “communicationsapplications”), such as instant messaging, message boards, internetchat, and IP telephone, can be described using similar criteria.

This wide array of communication options can cause inconvenience anddifficulty for user's in some cases. For example, it may be difficult todetermine the best communications application to use for initiatingcommunications with a particular person. This may occur when theavailability of that person using various communications applications isnot known. “Availability” as used herein may refer to the availabilityof a person (e.g., is the person logged onto his computer), theavailability of equipment (such as a web camera), and/or theavailability of needed software. In other words, availability mayencompass numerous circumstances that might limit the ability to contacta person by a particular communications technique. Furthermore, theidentifier of the person within a desired communications application,commonly called a “user id”, may not be known by the person wishing toinitiate communication. Before a communication session can be initiated,therefore, a “pre-conversation” by telephone or some other method may beneeded in order to ascertain availability and/or obtain the person'sidentifier. Such additional conversations can greatly increase the timeand effort expended in carrying out computer-based communication,particularly when more that two people are involved in thecommunication.

Even when a communications session is initiated using a desiredcommunications application, it may be realized during the course of theconversation that another form of communication would be moreconvenient. This could happen if the nature of the conversation changes,or if it simply becomes clear that the best communications applicationwasn't used from the beginning. Changing to another communicationsapplication can be rather inconvenient, however. Each participant mayhave to open up another application program, and efforts as describedabove to verify availability and obtain participant identifiers may needto be carried out. These steps necessitate enough disruption to a flowof conversation that typically changing to another communicationsapplication is avoided. Instead, participants may continue to “stretch”the capabilities of a given application. For example, participants maycontinue to send repeated short email messages back and forth, eventhough many “mouse clicks” could be saved if a messaging or chatapplication were used instead.

It would therefore be desirable to develop a way to make it convenientfor participants in computer-based communications to select the mostappropriate communications application.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The problems outlined above are in large part addressed by methods,systems and programs implementing what is referred to herein as theCommunications Aggregation Technique (CAT). The CAT can bring together(i.e., aggregate) multiple computer-based communications applications,to limit the amount of separate user interaction required with eachapplication. For example, a set of identifiers (user id's) identifying aparticipant to each communications application may be stored andaccessed by a CAT program. Referring to such an identifier set may allowthe CAT program to rapidly initiate a communications session using arequested communications application. Availability of a participantusing each of the communications applications may further be stored andaccessed, freeing participants from having to determine each others'availability on their own. The CAT program may in some cases appear as auser's sole communications application, by accessing one or morecommunications applications in a way that is invisible to the user. Themethods described herein are currently contemplated as being performedby such a CAT program, possibly in combination with a communicationsapplication program. The methods are therefore described from the “pointof view” of such a program or programs.

An embodiment of a method for configuring computer-based communicationincludes obtaining respective user identifiers appropriate to identify auser of a computer to each of multiple communications applicationsaccessible with the computer, and providing on a display screen of thecomputer a graphical user interface (GUI) associated with thecomputer-based communication, where the graphical user interfaceincludes representations of the multiple communications applications.Ways in which the user identifiers may be obtained include entry by theuser and accessing of previously-stored identifiers. As used herein,“user” refers to a person who seeks to initiate a computer-basedcommunications session. “Participants” is generally used herein to referto other people involved in such a session, though the user is of coursea participant also. In an embodiment, the method may further includeobtaining user passwords for the communications applications.Alternatively or in addition, availability information indicating theavailability of the user for communication using each of thecommunications applications may be obtained. The graphical userinterface provided may take various forms, including that of a windowindicating the status of each of the multiple communications, or a setof icons corresponding to the multiple communications applications.

The method described above may further include communicating theobtained user identifiers and/or availability information to anadditional computer. Alternatively or in addition, the method mayinclude identifying all of the communications applications accessiblewith the computer, and determining the status of each of the identifiedapplications. This may include determining the status of each of thecommunications ports within the computer. In another embodiment, themethod described above may include connecting the user to a first one ofthe communications applications to establish a first session, inresponse to user selection of the first communications application. Theconnecting may be done by providing an appropriate one of the obtaineduser identifiers to the first communications application. The method mayfurther include, in response to instructions from the user, joining thefirst session to a second session established by connection of the userto a second one of the communications applications.

In an embodiment of a method of establishing a computer-basedcommunication session involving a user of a computer, notification maybe received from the user of a desired participant and a desiredcommunications application for the session. A participant identifiereffective to identify the desired participant to the desiredcommunications application may then be retrieved, and the retrievedidentifier may be provided to the communications application. In anembodiment, the notification may be received by detecting selection ofan icon within a graphical user interface displayed using the computer.The method may also include displaying such a graphical user interface.For example, selection of a first displayed icon may be detected, alongwith movement of the first icon to the position of a second displayedicon. Entities which may be represented by such first or second iconsinclude, for example, the desired participant (or group of desiredparticipants), the desired communications application, and apreviously-established communications session. In another embodiment,receiving of the notification from the user may include receivingpermission or role information indicating requirements for the potentialparticipant. Retrieving of the participant identifier may includeaccessing a data structure storing the identifier. In some embodiments,the method may further include retrieving a user identifier appropriateto identify the user to the desired communications application, and/orretrieving a password effective to allow access of the user to thedesired communications application.

Another embodiment of a method of establishing a computer-basedcommunications session involving a user of a computer may includedetermining the availability of a potential participant in thecommunications session. According to the determined availability,information may be displayed on a display screen of the computer. In anembodiment, determining availability may include retrieving availabilityinformation for the participant from a data structure, which may in somecases be stored on an additional computer. Displaying the informationmay include displaying availability of a given participant for each ofmultiple communications applications. Alternatively or in addition, thedisplaying may include displaying a list of participants available forcommunication using a given communications application. In anembodiment, the method may further include receiving from the usernotification of a desired communications application to be used for thecommunications session. If the potential participant is available usingthe desired communications application, such an embodiment may includeretrieving a participant identifier effective to identify theparticipant to the communications application.

In an embodiment of a method of sending a message by computer-basedcommunication, an identification of an intended message recipient isreceived from the sender of the message, and one or more communicationsapplications to be used for transmission of the message are selected.The selection of the communications applications may include evaluatingavailability of the intended recipient for communication using each of aset of possible communications applications. The method may furtherinclude receiving from the sender a preferred characteristic of thetransmission. Such a preferred characteristic could include, forexample, a preferred speed of the transmission, a preferred level ofsecurity, or a relative size of the message to be sent. In anotherembodiment, the method may include sending at least a portion of themessage using each of the selected communications applications, suchthat the entirety of the message is sent. In an embodiment for whichmultiple communications applications are selected, the method mayinclude dividing the message into separate portions appropriate forsending by the respective selected communications applications, prior tosending the message.

In addition to the methods described above, a system for computer-basedcommunications is contemplated herein. In an embodiment, the system maybe a computer system including a display screen, means for obtaininguser identifiers effective to identify a user of the computer system toeach of multiple communications applications accessible with thecomputer system, and means for providing on the display screen a GUIassociated with computer-based communication, where the GUI includesrepresentations of the multiple communications applications. The meansfor obtaining user identifiers and the means for providing a GUI mayinclude a communications aggregation program stored on a storage mediumaccessible by the computer system. The system may further includeapplication programs stored on the storage medium, where the applicationprograms correspond to the multiple communications applications. Suchapplication programs may be adapted to receive corresponding useridentifiers from the communications aggregation program. The applicationprograms and the communications aggregation program may further adhereto a common application programming interface.

Another embodiment of a system for computer-based communication includesa display screen, means for determining the availability of a potentialparticipant in a computer-based communications session, and means for,according to the determined availability, displaying information on thedisplay screen. The means for determining availability and means fordisplaying may include a communications aggregation program stored on astorage medium within the system. The storage medium and display screenmay or may not be associated with the same computer system. In anembodiment, the communications aggregation program is adapted to accessa data structure including participant availability information. Thedata structure and the communications aggregation program may in somecases be stored on different storage media associated with differentcomputer systems. In another embodiment, the system may further includemeans for receiving, from an initiator of the communications session,notification of a desired communications application to be used. Thesystem may additionally include means for retrieving a participantidentifier effective to identify the participant to the desiredcommunications application, if the potential participant is availableusing that application.

An additional embodiment of a system for computer-based communicationsincludes means for receiving, from a user of a computer, notification ofa desired participant in a communications session and a desiredcommunications application for the session, means for retrieving aparticipant identifier appropriate to identify the desired participantto the desired communications application, and means for providing theretrieved participant identifier to the communications application. Themeans for receiving notification, means for retrieving a participantidentifier and means for providing the identifier may include acommunications aggregation program stored on a storage medium within thesystem. The storage medium may be, for example, within or accessible bythe user's computer, or within or accessible by an additional computer.In an embodiment, the communications aggregation program is adapted todisplay a GUI on a display screen of the user's computer, where the GUIincludes representations of multiple communications applicationsaccessible using the computer, and of multiple potential participants ina communications session. An embodiment of the system may furtherinclude means for retrieving a user identifier appropriate to identifythe user to the desired communications application.

In another embodiment of a system for computer-based communication, thesystem includes a computer having a storage medium. The storage mediumincludes program instructions executable on the computer for receiving,from a sender of the message, an identification of an intended messagerecipient, and for selecting one or more communications applications tobe used for transmission of the message. In an embodiment, the programinstructions are within a communications aggregation program. Thecomputer may in some cases include a display device and input deviceadapted for use by a sender of the message. Alternatively or inaddition, the computer may be adapted for coupling over the network toan additional computer used by the sender of the message. In anembodiment, the storage medium further includes program instructionsexecutable for sending at least a portion of the message using each ofthe selected communications applications, such that the entirety of themessage is sent. In such an embodiment, the computer may be adapted forcoupling over the network to an additional computer used by therecipient of the message.

In addition to the methods and systems described above, acomputer-usable carrier medium is contemplated herein. The carriermedium may be a storage medium, such as a magnetic or optical disk, amagnetic tape, or a memory. In addition, the carrier medium may be atransmission medium, such as a wire, cable, or wireless medium alongwhich data or program instructions are transmitted, or a signal carryingthe data or program instructions along such a wire, cable or wirelessmedium. The carrier medium may contain program instructions executablefor carrying out embodiments of the methods described herein.Alternatively or in addition, the carrier medium may contain programinstructions executable to implement a communications application, suchthat the program instructions are adapted to interact with a CAT program(such an application may be referred to herein as “CAT-enabled”). In anembodiment, such program instructions may implement a wrapper or shellprogram enabling a third-party communications application program tointeract with the CAT program.

Alternatively or in addition to the program instructions describedabove, the carrier medium may contain a data structure used inimplementing the methods. The data structure may store, for example, aset of user identifiers effective to identify a user of a computer toeach of multiple communications applications accessible with thecomputer. Alternatively or in addition, a data structure may storemultiple sets of participant identifiers, each identifier effective toidentify a potential participant in a computer-based communicationssession to each of such multiple communications applications. Role orpermission information corresponding to each potential participant couldalso be stored in a data structure. In another embodiment, a datastructure could store information indicating availability of a potentialparticipant with respect to each of multiple communicationsapplications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent uponreading the following detailed description and upon reference to theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a server-basedsystem for computer-based communication;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a system forcomputer-based communication using a peer-to-peer architecture;

FIG. 3 illustrates exemplary information to be included in an identifierset for a participant in computer-based communication;

FIG. 4 illustrates exemplary object interactions in an object-basedimplementation of the communications aggregation technique describedherein;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary window showing information regardingactive computer-based conversations;

FIG. 6 a illustrates an exemplary GUI through which a communicationssession may be initiated;

FIG. 6 b illustrates an exemplary GUI through which the communicationsapplication used in a session may be changed;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary GUI which may be used to initiatesending of a message using communications methods selected by a CATprogram;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method forconfiguring computer-based communications;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method forchanging the communications application used during a communicationssession; and

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method forsending a message using communications applications selected by the CATprogram.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. Itshould be understood, however, that the drawings and detaileddescription thereto are not intended to limit the invention to theparticular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is tocover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within thespirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appendedclaims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a system whichmay be used to implement the methods described herein is shown inFIG. 1. Server computer 10 is connected to computers 12 a and 12 bthrough transmission media 14. Transmission medium 14 is representativeof connections between networked computers, and may include, forexample, a wire, cable, wireless transmission path, or a combination ofthese. Connection 14 may further involve other computers or networkdevices such as hubs or routers. Each of the computers in FIG. 1 may beconnected to many other computers not shown, through a network such asthe Internet. The arrangement of FIG. 1 can be viewed as a client/serverarrangement. Many networks are organized using such a client/serverarchitecture, in which “server” computational devices manage resources,such as files, peripheral devices or processing power, which may berequested by “client” computational devices. In the case of FIG. 1,resources managed by server 10 for clients 12 a and 12 b may includeidentifier and availability information for participants incomputer-based communication. Each of the computers typically includes aprocessor 16. Although there are many variations in processorarchitecture, and the processors in computers 10, 12 a and 12 b need notbe identical, any differences are not important with respect to thesystems and methods described herein. Processor 16 needs only to havesufficient capability to perform the various functions described hereinof the corresponding computer.

Computers 12 a and 12 b also include a storage medium 18, and server 10includes storage medium 20. Storage media 18 and 20 may each take manyforms, such as volatile or nonvolatile memory, a magnetic disk such as ahard drive or floppy drive, an optical disk, and/or a magnetic tape.Further, each storage medium described may be implemented as acombination of multiple of these physical forms. In the embodiment ofFIG. 1, items stored on storage medium 18 include local CAT program 22,data structure 24, and communications application programs 26. Programinstructions such as those in programs 22 and 26 may be stored as“executable files” in a direct access storage device such as a disk andloaded into memory during execution.

Local CAT program 22 is a version of the communications aggregationprogram described herein which may be used in a client/serverconfiguration such as that of FIG. 1. Functions performed by thisprogram may include providing a CAT “console” through which a user ofthe computer (e.g., 12 a or 12 b) may view the status of any active“conversations” (i.e., communications sessions) that the user is engagedin. The console may also show the availability of other communicationsapplications which are not necessarily currently active. Local CATprogram 22 may implement the initial configuration of the console,through actions including identifying any CAT-enabled applications amongcommunications applications 26, and prompting the user to enter useridentifiers (id's) and/or passwords for these applications. Program 22may also pass the set of id's for the user to server CAT program 28 onserver 10, and receive id sets of other users from program 28. Further,program 22 may interact with a communications application program fromprograms 26. Such interaction could include sending the appropriate useridentifier, and possibly the appropriate password, to the applicationprogram in the course of beginning a communications session.

Various information collected by and/or used by program 22 may be storedin data structure 24. As used herein, “data structure” refers to acollection of interrelated data stored in a storage medium, and mayinclude pieces of data and the relationships between them. A datastructure may take any of multiple forms, such as a database, an objector class in an object-based programming approach, or some other formsuch as a look-up table. The information within data structure 22 mayinclude, for example, a set of identifiers appropriate to identify acomputer user to each of the CAT-enabled communications applications.Information on availability of the user for communication via thevarious applications may also be included, as may the user's passwordsused in gaining access to the communications applications. In someembodiments, identifier and availability information for participantsother than the user may be stored in data structure 24, or in adifferent data structure within the computer. Such information may beobtained through, for example, interaction between local CAT program 22and server CAT program 28.

Storage medium 18 may also contain communications applications 26. Theseapplications may include any of various application programsimplementing computer-based communications techniques such as email,instant messaging, IP telephone, file transfer protocol (FTP), and soforth. For a communications application to be fully utilized in the CATmethods described herein, the application should be CAT-enabled. Asnoted above, this means that the application must be adapted to interactwith the CAT program. For example, the application may be adapted toaccept a user's username (identifier) and/or password from the CATprogram. As another example, an application may pass a list ofparticipants in an ongoing communications session to the CAT program, sothat the CAT program can attempt to obtain full identifier sets for theparticipants (in case communication using a different application islater required). A CAT-enabled application may be designed as such byits original author. For example, the CAT program and CAT-enabledapplication could be originally written using a common applicationprogramming interface (API). Alternatively, a CAT-enabled applicationmay be created by modification of a previously-written applicationprogram to allow it to interact with the CAT program, if the API of theapplication program is known. As another alternative, a shell, orwrapper, program which acts as an interface between an applicationprogram and the CAT program could be used. Even a non-CAT-enabledapplication program can be launched by the CAT program, however, if theuser is willing to provide appropriate identifier and passwordinformation. This situation is discussed further in the description ofFIG. 8 below.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, storage medium 20 on server 10 includes aserver version 28 of the CAT program. Server CAT program 28 is adaptedto manage identifier and availability information for multipleparticipants in communications sessions. In an embodiment, server 10 maybe a server used as a kind of network “meeting place,” perhaps housingan online auction service or discussion forum. In this case, CAT program28 could obtain identifier and availability information of theparticipants, and provide it to those who may wish to communicatedirectly with one another. Server CAT program 28 is adapted to interactwith local CAT programs 22 of communication session participants, inorder to exchange participant identifier and availability information.The multiple identifier sets which may be obtained by CAT program 28 maybe stored in data structure 30. Availability information for eachparticipant may be stored in structure 30 as well.

Display screens 30 are shown coupled to each of computers 12 a and 12 b.These screens may be used to view information displayed by a CAT programor communication application program. It is noted that the particulardivision of responsibility between CAT program 22 and a CAT-enabledcommunications application may depend on the particular configuration.Data may be channeled from the CAT program through a communicationsapplication program, for example, or vice versa. Functions of one ofthese programs described herein may therefore also be implementablethrough the other program, or through various combinations of the two.In FIG. 1 and any other block diagrams appearing herein, the blocks areintended to represent functionality rather than specific structure.Implementation of the represented system using circuitry and/or softwarecould involve combination of multiple blocks into a single circuit ordevice, or combination of multiple circuits and/or devices to realizethe function of a block. Furthermore, the system may include otherelements not explicitly shown. For example, computers are typicallyassociated with at least one input device such as a keyboard and/orpointing device (e.g., a mouse), and at least one output device such asa display or printer. Many other elements, such as display controllers,may be present though not shown in FIG. 1.

An alternative embodiment of a system for computer-based communicationsis shown in FIG. 2. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, no server is used, andcomputers 12 a, 12 b and 12 c are each used by a potential participantin a communications session. The elements shown within the computers ofFIG. 2 are similar to those described for computers 12 a and 12 b ofFIG. 1. Local CAT program 22 and/or communications applications 26 mayoperate somewhat differently in the peer-to-peer mode of FIG. 2,however. In the absence of a central server maintaining participant idsets for each participant, id sets may be passed from each participantto the other participants. In an embodiment, the id sets and/oravailability information are passed through the communicationsapplication programs running on each computer. This may be convenient inthat these programs must have a connection established in any case ifthey are involved in a communications session. Information passed to anapplication program could then be sent to the local CAT program.Alternatively, the id sets and availability information could also bepassed over connections between the local CAT programs on the variousparticipant computers. In an embodiment, the management of identifiersand availability information during the communications session ishandled by the local CAT program of the computer which initiated thecommunications session.

Exemplary content of a data structure such as data structure 24 of FIGS.1 and 2 is shown in FIG. 3. The data of FIG. 3 is shown in terms ofattributes that may be associated with an object in an object-basedprogramming approach, and values of those attributes. The datastructures and programs described herein are not necessarily implementedusing an object-based approach, however. Attributes included in FIG. 3include name attribute 32, email attribute 34, and email availabilityattribute 36. Such data could of course be organized differently thanshown in FIG. 3. For example, the username and domain name of the emailaddress could be separate attributes. The value of the name attributemay in some object-based embodiments be used as an object handle, orname to reference the object. Such an object handle could naturally besome other name rather than the participant's whole name. Attributes 38and 40 refer to a user's identifier and availability for an instantmessaging application. Similar attributes could of course be includedfor many other communications applications. Attributes 42 and 44 referto a permission level and role of the user. The particular valuesassigned are dependent on the particular implementation, and need not benumerical values. Permission and role are typically assigned withrespect to an organization or group. In an embodiment, a data structurecould include multiple permission and/or role attributes, each for adifferent group or organization to which the participant belongs.Separate role or permission attributes may also be appropriate fordifferent communications applications in some embodiments. Passwords foruse with the various communications applications may also be included asattributes in FIG. 3, in embodiments for which a user desires to havepasswords stored by a CAT program.

The information included in FIG. 3 is subject to change over time,particularly the availability information. The information may thereforebe periodically updated by the CAT program. A local CAT program mayupdate information relating to the local computer and user, and theupdated information may be sent to a server CAT program (or local CATprogram, in a peer-to-peer implementation), either automatically or uponrequest. As noted above, information such as that in FIG. 3 may beconfigured in numerous ways. For example, all information relating toone participant could be within a single object, or some of it, such asavailability information, could be within a separate object. In additionto the information shown for one participant, similar information forother participants may be stored in a data structure as well. In anembodiment, information for each participant is within its own object.

An illustration of some possible object interactions associated with anexemplary object-based implementation of the CAT technique describedherein are shown in FIG. 4. The arrangement of FIG. 4 is not anexhaustive map, and is intended only to give an idea of the types ofobjects that could be used. Participant objects 46 a and 46 b mayinclude collections of data similar to that shown in FIG. 3, such asidentifier sets and availability information. Multiple communicationsapplication programs may be represented by objects, as shown by objects48 a through 48 f in FIG. 4. Associated with a communicationsapplication could also be a sub-object including a list of participantsin a current communications session, such as participant object 50within instant messaging object 48 e. For some applications notcurrently involved in a communications session, a set of participantswho would be available for communication with that application may bedetermined. This type of available participant list may be obtained by aCAT program in preparation for a possible change of communicationsapplication during a session. Such a set is represented by availableparticipants object 52 within email program B object 48 d. Object 54represents a CAT console, or control panel through which communicationssessions may be initiated or changed. The arrows in FIG. 4 show possibleobject interactions, but do not represent the only interactionspossible.

Examples of information which may be displayed by a CAT program on auser's display screen are shown in FIGS. 5-7. These displays may beassociated with a CAT console which is available to a user when thelocal CAT program is running. Window 56 of FIG. 5 includes a display ofactive conversations involving a user. In the embodiment of FIG. 5, thename of the application, status, and user identifier are shown. Otherwindows similar to window 56 could include other types of information.For example, a window could show all communications applicationsinstalled on a given computer, having status indicators including“running,” “inactive,” “available,” “not available,” etc. asappropriate, with corresponding user identifiers if they exist. Anotherwindow could provide status of all of the communications ports orchannels on the computer, including whether there is an activecommunication, and if so, what application is being used. In someembodiments, such information on communications ports could be obtainedthrough use of a “netstat” command in DOS or unix operating systems (orsimilar commands in other operating systems). Easy access to status ofcommunications channels, as may be offered through such an embodiment ofthe CAT console, may be important for maintaining computer security,since one method of “invading” a computer for illegal purposes involvessecretly installing “robot” or “zombie” programs onto the computer. Suchrobots often communicate using Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channels.

Exemplary GUI screens which may be used to initiate or change acommunications session are shown in FIG. 6. In the embodiment of FIG. 6a, window 58 includes participant icons 60 a through 60 d, participantgroup icons 62 a through 62 c, and communications application icons 64 athrough 64 c. The participant and participant group icons are preferablylabeled with some name that identifies them to the user. Selection of aparticipant icon or participant group icon and movement of the icon tothe position of one of the communications application icons isillustrated by arrows 66 and 68. This “drag and drop” motion may beperformed using a pointing device such as a mouse connected to thecomputer, where the lateral position of the pointing device correspondsto that of a pointer displayed on the screen (not shown).

The selection and movement represented by arrow 66 in FIG. 6 aconstitutes a notification to the CAT program that a communicationssession with participant group 2 using communications application 1 isdesired. Stored participant identifiers for the desired participants maythen be retrieved in order to start the communications session. Theparticipant identifiers may in some cases be retrieved from a local datastructure, particularly if the identifiers were retained after aprevious communication session. Alternatively, the identifiers may berequested from a server CAT program or local CAT programs of othercomputers, depending on the configuration of the CAT network. Even incases for which participant identifiers are available locally,identifiers and/or availability information may be obtained from anotherCAT program in order to ensure updated information. In an embodiment,identifier and/or availability information can be accessed by a user ofthe GUI. This could be implemented, for example, through a pop-up menuappearing when the pointer is positioned over a participant icon orparticipant group icon (in some embodiments, a “click” of a mouse couldbe used to summon such a menu). Access to this information could help auser decide which communications application to choose for thecommunications session.

In the embodiment of FIG. 6 b, window 70 includes communicationsapplication icons 64 a through 64 c, similar to those shown in FIG. 6 a.Within (or superimposed upon) icon 64 a of FIG. 6 b, however, isparticipant group icon 72. Icon 72 represents a group of participants ina current communications session using communication application 1(represented by icon 64 a). If during this communications session it isdecided to change the communications application being used fromcommunications application 1 to communications application 2, thenparticipant group icon 72 may be dragged and dropped from icon 64 a toicon 64 b, as illustrated by arrow 76. In the embodiment of FIG. 6 b,availability information is accessible by the user using availabilitybox 74. Box 74 includes icons for each participant in the participantgroup, and selection of an icon brings up availability information forthe corresponding participant. The GUIs shown in FIG. 6, as well as anyother GUIs shown herein, are merely exemplary embodiments, and manyvariations are possible and contemplated. Details such as the particularicon shapes and sizes, for example, are not important to theimplementation of the methods described herein. Other presentationschemes may be suitable in other embodiments, as well. For example, theavailability information in box 74 of FIG. 6 b could be directlypresented in tabular form, rather than accessed through participanticons. Furthermore, changing of a communications application throughicon selection and movement could be done in other ways than that shown.For example, the combination of icons 64 a and 72 in FIG. 6 b could bemoved, rather than just icon 72.

The GUI's discussed in FIG. 6 above may be used by a user to configure acommunications session in which the user chooses the communicationsmethod to be used. A different approach is illustrated by the GUI windowshown in FIG. 7. Window 78 shown in FIG. 7 allows a user to initiatesending of a message, but the communications application, orapplications, to be used is chosen not by the user but by the CATprogram. Entry boxes 80, 82 and 84 allow user entry of the desiredrecipient, security level, and transmission speed, respectively. In thisembodiment, entry could be done in some cases by typing into the box, oralternately by selecting from a menu accessed using the arrow button tothe right of each box. The security level and speed entries may berelative values, such as “high,” “medium,” or “low”. Check boxes 86 and88 allow the user to signal intent to attach a file for transmission orto enter a particular message into box 90, or both. The CAT program maythen use the information entered into window 78, as well as otherinformation (such as availability of the recipient) to determine one ormore communication methods to use in sending the message. In a“scatter-gather” mode of communication, the message could be divided,sent using multiple methods, then reassembled by the CAT program at therecipient's end. Such an approach may provide the most efficientutilization of the communications applications available. It is notnecessary for either the sender or the recipient to know which methodsare used. The GUI shown in FIG. 7 is only exemplary, and could bealtered in many ways. For example, other user-entered criteria could beincluded, such as cost or bandwidth usage. All of the GUIs describedherein illustrate only exemplary way of interaction with a CAT program.Other interfaces, such as a command interface, could also be used.

A flow diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a method for configuringcomputer-based communications is shown in FIG. 8. The procedure of FIG.8 may be performed by a CAT program such as local CAT program 22 inFIGS. 1 and 2, typically upon startup of the computer or startup of theCAT program. In the embodiment of FIG. 8, the communications applicationprograms associated with the computer are checked for CAT compatibility(box 100). Ways in which the application programs could be checked forCAT compatibility include looking for certain files associated withCAT-enablement of the application, or sending an appropriate query tothe application program, if it is running. If a checked program is notCAT-enabled, a CAT program may still be able to launch the application.If the user agrees to provide the appropriate identifier and password(“yes” branch of decision box 103), this information may be obtainedthrough the same procedure used for CAT-enabled programs, beginning withbox 104. If the application is CAT-enabled and the user identifier forthe application is not stored (“no” branch of decision box 104), theuser is prompted for the identifier and the identifier is stored (box106). In the case of a CAT-enabled application, this situation couldarise during initial set up of the CAT program. Once the identifier isstored, if the corresponding password is not stored (“no” branch ofdecision box 108), the user is asked whether password storage isdesired. If the user wishes to store a password (“yes” branch ofdecision box 110), the password is received from the user and stored(box 112).

It is noted that embodiments of the methods described herein may provideuser control over security at many levels. In addition to allowing auser to choose whether to allow password storage, the method could insome embodiments allow the user to choose whether to allow identifierstorage. In a further embodiment, the user could have a choice as towhether storage of an identifier and/or password is to be maintainedonly for the current session, or if the information may be retainedafter the session ends, for use in future sessions. Even if passwordsare stored, they are preferably retained on the local computer, and notsent to a server computer or other participant's computer. Depending onthe particular security concerns of the user, storage of passwordsand/or identifiers even on the local computer may be refused. Becauseany identifiers or passwords not stored will need to be provided by theuser at the time an application is launched, there is a tradeoff betweensecurity and convenience. Allowing user choice with respect to thestorage of identifiers and passwords for each separate applicationprogram may give the flexibility needed for a user to come up with theappropriate balance of security and convenience for a given situation.

Continuing with the embodiment of FIG. 8, user availability using thecommunications application in question is then determined and stored(box 114). In assessing availability, things which may be consideredinclude whether the user is logged onto the computer, whether thecommunications application is running, whether needed hardware (such ascamera or microphone) is connected, and so forth. In some embodiments,the assessment may be made by a CAT-enabled application, with a resultgiven to the CAT program. The above-described procedure is repeated forany other communications applications to be checked. When there are nomore application programs to process, information regarding theapplications is written to the display screen of the computer (box 118).This display may be of a form similar to that shown in FIG. 5, or thosedescribed in the discussion of FIG. 5 above. Variations of the method ofFIG. 8 are possible and contemplated. For example, identifiers,passwords and availability information may not all be obtained during asingle setup procedure as shown. Updating of availability informationcould be done during a separate procedure, for instance.

A flow diagram of an embodiment of a method for changing thecommunications application used during a communications session is shownin FIG. 9. The embodiment of FIG. 9 includes two alternative branchesrelating to initial establishment of a communications session. Boxes 120through 132 describe establishment of the session using the CAT program,while boxes 136 and 138 are for a case in which the initialcommunications session may be established independently of the CATprogram. The method of FIG. 9 may be implemented using a CAT programsuch as program 22 or 28 of FIG. 1, or may in some embodiments beimplemented through a combination of a CAT program and a CAT-enabledcommunication application program. In a case for which the CAT programis involved in establishing the initial communications session, input isreceived from the user of one or more desired participants, and of adesired communications application for the session (box 120). The usermay provide this input by manipulation of icons, as described above inthe discussion of FIG. 6 a, or in other ways such as through acommand-based interface.

Identifiers appropriate to identify the desired participants to thedesired communications application are then obtained (box 122), as wellas information on the availability of each participant for communicationusing the desired application (box 124). Depending on the networkarchitecture used, the identifiers and availability information may beobtained by a server CAT program from various local CAT programs onother computers, then passed to the local CAT program on the computerinitiating the communications session. Alternatively, the informationmay be passed from one local CAT program to another, possibly through aCAT-enabled communications application program. As a furtheralternative, the information could already be stored locally, perhaps asa result of a recent previous communications session. If any of theparticipants is not available using the communications method (“no”branch of decision box 126), the user may be informed (box 128) andasked whether an alternate communications application is preferred (box130). If the participants are all available, or if the user wishes tocontinue in any case, the participant identifiers are used to start thecommunications session (box 132).

As an alternative to the above-described procedure, notification may bereceived from a communications application that a session has beenstarted using that application (box 136). A list of the participantidentifiers being used in that session may be received (box 138). Oncethe identifiers from the initial session are received, whether throughthe sequence ending in box 132 or that ending in box 138, the identifiersets of the participants for other communication applications may thenbe obtained or updated (box 134). In the embodiment of FIG. 9,availability information for the participants with respect to all of thecommunication applications is then obtained or updated (box 140). Theavailability information may then be displayed on the display screens ofone or more of the participants in the communications session (box 142).This display of availability information may in some cases be in a formsimilar to that described in the discussion of FIGS. 6 a and 6 b above.If a new application is selected by one of the participants (“yes”branch of decision box 144) before the communications session ends,identifiers for those participants who are available may be retrievedand used to launch the new communications method (boxes 148 and 150).Selection of a new application could be done in a manner similar to thatshown in FIG. 6 b, or through some other method, such as entry ofcommands. In some embodiments, the ability to change the communicationmethod used may be limited in some way, such as being limited to theuser who initiated the communications session. Upon starting the newcommunications application, the availability information could beupdated and displayed (boxes 140 and 142) in preparation for a possibleadditional change of application program.

The capability of launching additional communications sessions,illustrated by the method of FIG. 9, may also be used in a method ofconnecting two sessions together, or “jumpering” the sessions. Thejumpering involves copying messages received using one communicationsapplication to another. An incoming email message could therefore beviewed as an instant messaging message in one embodiment. The jumperedsessions could both use the same type of communications application insome cases, such as when a message from one email account is copied tothe screen of another email account. Return messages would be copied inthe same way, so that each participant in a conversation would beinteracting with only one communications application. Jumpering may bedesirable, for example, in situations where certain applications areeasier to access than others, or when one form of communications is moreconvenient than the form originally used for a communications session.One participant in a session can use the communications application ofhis choice through jumpering, without the other participant even knowingthat a different application is being used on the other end, so that theother participant doesn't have to do anything differently.

The flow diagram of FIG. 9, as well as all flow diagrams includedherein, is merely exemplary, and could be varied in many ways. Forexample, the methods described herein may not involve obtainingavailability information in every case, so that steps such as 124-130,140, 142 and 148 in FIG. 9 may be omitted. Some of the steps could alsobe done in reverse order or simultaneously, such as steps 122 and 124,and steps 136 and 138. In the method of FIG. 9 and all methods describedherein, availability and/or identifier information may be updated moreor less often than shown in this example. The update frequency may insome embodiments be set by a user of the CAT program.

A flow diagram of an embodiment of a method for sending a message usingcommunications applications selected by the CAT program, rather than bythe sender, is shown in FIG. 10. In the embodiment of FIG. 10,notification is received from the sender of the message of one or moredesired message recipients (box 152). Preferred criteria for thetransmission may also be received from the sender (box 154). The sendermay in some embodiments provide such information through a GUI similarto that of FIG. 7. Recipient identifiers and availability informationfor the possible communication applications may then be obtained (box156). This information may already be stored locally, particularly ifthe sender and recipient are in an existing communications session.Alternatively, the information may be obtained or updated from CATprograms on a server computer or on other client computers, depending onthe network configuration, and as described above with respect to themethods of FIGS. 8 and 9. Based on factors including the criteriaprovided by the sender and the availability information for therecipient, one or more communications applications to use for themessage transmission are selected (box 158). If multiple communicationsapplications have been selected, the message is divided into portions tobe sent by each application (162). In a message with multiple separatecomponents, for example, a small attachment may be sent using onemethod, a large attachment using another, and a text message sent with athird application program. The message is then sent to the recipientusing the appropriate identifiers for the selected communicationsapplications (box 164).

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art having the benefit ofthis disclosure that this invention is believed to provide a system,method and program for aggregating multiple computer-basedcommunications applications. Furthermore, it is also to be understoodthat the form of the invention shown and described is to be taken asexemplary, presently preferred embodiments. Various modifications andchanges may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as set forth in the claims. For example, the system andmethods described herein may be implemented using many combinations ofhardware and/or software, and at one or more of many different levels ofhardware and/or software, as is the case with many computer-relatedapplications. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted toembrace all such modifications and changes.

1. A method of establishing a computer-based communication sessioninvolving a user of a computer, said method comprising: receiving, fromthe user, notification of a desired participant in the communicationsession and a desired communications application to be used for thesession, wherein the desired communications application is selected frommultiple communications applications available for use in the session,wherein said receiving comprises: detecting selection of a firstdisplayed icon within a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed usingthe computer; and detecting movement of the first icon to the positionof a second displayed icon within the GUI, wherein one of the first andsecond icons represents the desired participant and the other representsthe desired communications application; retrieving a participantidentifier effective to identify the desired participant to the desiredcommunications application; and providing the retrieved participantidentifier to the communications application.
 2. The method as recitedin claim 1, wherein one of the first and second icons instead representsa previously-established communications session with the desiredparticipant using a different communications application, and the otherrepresents the desired communications application.
 3. The method asrecited in claim 1, wherein one of the first and second icons insteadrepresents a group of desired participants and the other represents thedesired communications application.
 4. The method as recited in claim 1,wherein said retrieving comprises accessing a data structure storing theparticipant identifier.
 5. The method as recited in claim 4, whereinsaid receiving comprises receiving required participant permission orrole information, and wherein said retrieving further comprisesverifying participant or role information stored in the data structure.6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising displaying, on adisplay screen of the computer, a graphical user interface includingrepresentations of multiple communications applications accessible withthe computer and representations of multiple potential participants in acommunications session.
 7. The method as recited in claim 6, whereinsaid representations of multiple communications applications and saidrepresentations of multiple potential participants comprise respectiveicons.
 8. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprisingretrieving a user identifier appropriate to identify the user to thedesired communications application.
 9. The method as recited in claim 8,further comprising retrieving a password effective to allow access ofthe user to the desired communications application.
 10. A system forcomputer-based communications, comprising: means for displaying, on adisplay screen of the computer, a graphical user interface includingrepresentations of multiple communications applications accessible usingthe computer and of multiple potential participants in a communicationssession, wherein said representations comprise icons; means forreceiving, from a user of a computer, notification of a desiredparticipant in a communications session and a desired communicationsapplication for use in the communications session, wherein the desiredcommunications application is selected from the multiple communicationsapplications accessible using the computer, and wherein saidnotification comprises detecting a combined selection of a first iconrepresenting the desired communications application and a second iconrepresenting the desired participant; means for retrieving a participantidentifier appropriate to identify the desired participant to thedesired communications application; and means for providing theretrieved participant identifier to the communications application. 11.The system as recited in claim 10, wherein said means for displaying,means for receiving, means for retrieving and means for providingcomprise a communications aggregation program stored on a storage mediumwithin the system.
 12. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein thestorage medium is within or accessible by the computer.
 13. The systemas recited in claim 11, wherein the storage medium is within oraccessible by an additional computer.
 14. The system as recited in claim11, wherein the communications aggregation program is adapted to accessa data structure including the participant identifier.
 15. The system asrecited in claim 14, wherein the data structure is stored on oraccessible by an additional computer.
 16. The system as recited in claim10, further comprising means for retrieving a user identifierappropriate to identify the user to the desired communicationsapplication.